History

Backed by history

Founded in 1909, UQ has educated and worked with outstanding people to deliver knowledge leadership for more than a century.

What started as Queensland's first university, with three faculties and 83 students, has grown into a premier institution renowned for being a leader in teaching and research.

Over the years we have celebrated the achievements of 250,000-plus alumni, which includes a Nobel laureate, two Fortune 500 company CEOs, an Academy Award winner and countless leaders in government, industry and the arts.

We strive to lead the way in innovative, student-centred learning, which has gained us international recognition. UQ is ranked among the world's top universities by several key independent rankings, and has gained a reputation for providing high-quality qualifications for the modern world.

Thanks to the depth of our history, we have a strong foundation from which to build our future as we continue to reimagine the possibilities of higher education. Our strategic goals encapsulate the breadth of our ambitions for teaching and learning at UQ.

Flexible, integrated learning

Personalised and flexible learning is just one of our major goals in transforming the student experience.

Our ‘study anywhere, anytime’ initiatives are informed by data on student preferences and study patterns. Along with many new developments, this student-centred direction has introduced key projects such as UQx’s Massive Open Online Courses and UQ2U’s blended learning format.

We recognise the needs of our increasingly diverse student population, and aim to encourage all students to take greater responsibility in their learning. We want our students to be able to accelerate their studies, spread their academic workload, build co-curricular activities into their program and better balance study and other obligations.

Award-winning teachers

UQ is home to outstanding teachers who have been recognised nationally with numerous awards for excellence in teaching.

UQ’s awards scheme was established to identify and nurture gifted teachers. We introduced teaching-focused academic categories to our awards to reflect our commitment to recognising the vital role of teaching to engage and connect with our students.

Many of our national award winners have also won at the faculty and University level. Their impact goes beyond awards: our positive student feedback is testament to the inspirational and aspirational impact of our teachers.

We recruit teachers with talent, and prioritise the personal and professional development of our teaching academics. You’ll teach with and be taught by the very best.

Going beyond the classroom

We know that there’s more to teaching and learning than just the classroom. We have programs to enhance professional development for our teaching staff, to mentor students from enrolment to graduation, and to build vibrant and enhanced learning spaces.

We’re also constantly evolving our course content to offer more flexible blended learning online and on-campus. This evolution of courses extends the expertise of our teaching staff and provides collaborative and engaging content for students.

Funding top teaching

UQ offers Teaching and Learning grants and fellowships to encourage and support the professional development of teaching.

Outstanding teachers are vital to our vision and fundamental to achieving our strategic objectives, and the quality of our teachers is backed up by results: in the 2017 Student Experience Survey, UQ ranked highly in overall teaching quality.

To ensure we continue to develop and enhance our teaching, we offer several grant and fellowship programs. We have Advance HE accreditation for our Graduate Teaching Associates and HEA@UQ Programs, which enables those with teaching and learning experience to be recognised as Fellows.

We are committed to ensuring our teaching quality reflects international standards, and the calibre of our HEA Fellows highlights the quality of our teachers — to UQ and to the world.